


Party Ghouls

by Broken_Clover



Category: Guilty Gear
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Halloween, M/M, also a small bit of sinbed, but I didn't tag it, respect your partner's traumas folks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-01
Updated: 2020-11-01
Packaged: 2021-03-09 03:54:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,997
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27318073
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Broken_Clover/pseuds/Broken_Clover
Summary: Dragging Zappa along to a Halloween party, Randy thinks, what could possibly go wrong?
Relationships: Randy/Zappa (Guilty Gear)
Comments: 1
Kudos: 4





	Party Ghouls

**Author's Note:**

> I wanted to do more halloween stuff but ultimately this was all I could manage
> 
> Title comes from a song from LBP, which while not necessarily halloween has that vibe and is a banger

As things always tended to go during dull days in the office, as soon as one of the cleaning staff came by to pin a flyer on the board, everyone not-so-subtly slipped away from their workstations to get a better look.

“Oh _hell_ yes!” Anyone who had managed not to be distracted definitely was now, thanks to Randy’s lack of an indoor voice. One such individual just so happened to be his partner, who looked up from his monitor in dismay.

“You’re shouting again, Randy. What is it?”

“What is it?” Randy parroted in disbelief. The flyer was pulled from the board and shoved in Zappa’s face. “The castle’s having a halloween party in a couple of days! Free food and everything!”

“Nice to see they’re letting us catch a break!” Someone exclaimed.

“Yeah, was startin’ to think they were going back to treating us like a bunch of minimum-wage desk jockeys.”

Zappa still appeared unenthused. “Oh. I guess that’s cool, Randy.”

“How can you not be excited?” The man asked. “It’s halloween, dude! Spookiest night of the year! The time where anything can happen! And people give out free candy!”

“So…?”

“So we gotta enjoy it, man! Live in the moment! Get in the real spirit of things- ! Erm, no pun intended.”

The man’s face finally betrayed a hint of emotion. But rather than excitement, it was unease. “I dunno, Randy. I wasn’t planning on doing anything halloween night.”

“C’mon, Zappa, it’ll be a ton of fun!” Randy pleaded. “Get dressed up, eat some snacks...I’m not even gonna make you dance or talk to anyone if you don’t want to. It’ll just be candy and a good time! Just- please? I feel like we never get out.”

The man had such an earnest smile on his face. With a hesitant, shaky smile, Zappa nodded.

“Ok. I guess. If you really want to.”

“Hell yeah!” A triumphant fist was thrown in the air, and Randy’s expression almost made him not regret it. “This is gonna be awesome!”

_Almost._

++++++

“Randy? You almost ready?”

“Still working out the details!”

That was a bit of an understatement. Randy had been hard at work painting an array of dyes and pigments on his face since the sun had still been up, and now he was still staring himself at the mirror even as the nighttime deadline approached, trying to find the best way to draw on black shadow and make it appear as though a chunk had been ripped clean off of his face.

Zappa leaned back against the hallway wall, arms crossed with unease. He had done his best to try and spit out that no, he absolutely had no interest in diving headfirst into a night full of anything and everything terrifying when he was a person who was still startled when the toaster popped. He would have been perfectly happy staying home, going to bed early, and helping himself to whatever leftover candy the division had left on November 1st, but he had ultimately been too much of a coward to admit that he was, well, a coward. So here he was, dreading everything but still somehow too chickenshit to actually say it in words.

He moved to knock again. “Randy, if you take much longer, I-I’m not gonna-”

“All done!” The doorknob clicked, making Zappa take a step back to see.

“Oh. Well, good, you’ve been in there for forever! Was starting to think we’d be stuck-”

_Inhumanly cold hands clawed up his arm, eventually bending his spine back further than the bone should have allowed. Any screams of pain or terror were silenced by an equally-frigid hand grasping over his mouth, and another gripping his throat._

“Zappa?” Asked Randy, waving a hand in front of his face. “You okay, man? Flaked out? I was super excited to see what you’d think!”

As soon as he got his wits about him, Zappa wanted to puke. “R-Randy?? What happened t- to your face?!”

That seemed more the reaction he was expecting, but his grin only showed off more charred skin and ripped flesh. “It’s makeup, man! And a little bit of prosthetics. Convincing, right??”

Randy was proud of his own skills, but his companion still looked a half second from pissing himself in terror. His expression fell. “Are you really that spooked?”

“No, n-no, I’m fine.” He replied, in the least convincing tone possible. “R-really.”

Reluctantly, Randy turned back to the still-open bathroom with a groan. “All that work for nothing...but if you’re really that freaked out, I’ll take it off.”

He wasn’t happy to leave the house with only a few dull smears across his face, but at least Zappa was willing to be anywhere near him again. Their shared house was situated in a district full of families and young kids, so the decorations dotting the yards they passed were mostly cute ghosts and pumpkin cutouts instead of hyperrealistic body parts. Randy was nowhere near close to finding any of it scary, but every so often, if something made a noise when they walked passed or wobbled back and forth in a vaguely threatening manner, he felt Zappa not-so-subtly cling to his arm.

“It’s just decorations, dude. They’re not gonna hurt ya.”

“I-I know, I know. I’m- I’m sorry.”

“Aww, don’t gotta apologize. The directions said the venue’s not too far from here, so just hold on for a few more minutes and you’ll be safe from all the spooooky paper mache.”

Zappa wasn’t as assured as he would have liked to be. Yes, he knew it was fake, but those things still gave him such a nasty shock.

Groups of small, costumed children hurried by, giggling and rattling their pillowcases as they headed toward the next house down the line. 

“So I didn’t ask, what exactly is your costume supposed to be? Shag carpeting?”

“Very funny,” replied Zappa, though with a hint of amusement. “Well, I was trying to be a platypus, but I couldn’t think of anything to make the bill with, so I guess I’m some sort of...beaver? Or something.”

Randy snorted. “Platypus? Kinda cliche, isn’t it?”

“Hey, I only had a couple of days to throw this together! I wasn’t planning on dressing up.”

“Yeah, I guess that’s fair.” He gave his partner a rousing pat on the back. “I still think it works! C’mon, we’re almost there!”

The building was a distant offshoot of the castle, but not one either of them were used to being in. Under normal circumstances, it was probably supposed to be some kind of meeting room, but the desks and chairs had been packed away to be replaced with long tables piled with candy and speakers blaring spooky noises. Zappa immediately cowered at the sight of it all.

Randy was the complete opposite, throwing his hands in the air. “Check it out! This is _awesome!”_

“This is terrifying.” Zappa mumbled under his breath. He tried to keep his breathing even, but every ominous wail from the speakers and every abrupt movement in the crowd made his chest tighten.

No, no, everything was going to be fine! This- this was supposed to be fun! Randy was right, they never got to go out, he didn’t want to ruin all the fun he was having just because he-

_A set of impossibly sharp teeth glittered, staining themselves redder and redder with every bite. His body felt so cold and detached from everything, like someone else had shoved him into the passenger seat and taken the reins. Whose teeth were those? Were they his?! No, that was impossible, how could-_

“Hey guys, glad you could make it!”

“Ellsworth! Troy! Good to see you!” Randy shook hands with his co-workers, completely oblivious to Zappa being entirely confused by his surroundings. “Great outfit! Must’ve been a pain to put that thing together!”

“Turned out great, didn’t it?” Troy spun in place, picking up the long skirts of her near-perfect replica of the Holy Order uniform. “Fiance helped with the trim, she’s so much better at that than I am.”

Ellsworth nudged the blonde in the ribs. “Thought you were gonna blow us away with that fancy makeup of yours! What gives!”

“I was! I was.” He said, throwing his hands up. “I worked on it all afternoon, but it scared the hell out of Zappa, so I took it back off. Maybe I shoulda’ taken a photo of it before I did…”

The man in question winced as they turned to look at him, rubbing the back of his neck in embarrassment. 

“Pfft, you got _that_ scared?” Teased Troy. “Didja really think Randy was gonna eat your brains?”

“Oh come off it, Troy. We just got here and you’re already starting stuff?” Randy replied, with a good-natured grin. “At least buy me a drink first.”

“Speaking of which, there are some tables with drinks over by that giant creepy tree thing.” She jerked a thumb over her shoulder. “Free, even. Helps wash down all the chocolate.”

Randy grabbed his partner by the sleeve and pulled him along. “Great! Let’s go see what they got!”

Zappa stumbled after him, still half-distracted by the decor that already had him on edge. Nobody else even seemed to notice that he was practically jumping out of his skin every other second. He was already hating everything about this. Maybe it would be worth it to ask if they could leave? But they’d only just arrived, trying to drag Randy back home just as soon as his fun had started would ruin his night. He wasn’t going to ruin the fun, he wasn’t going to be the cowardly wet blanket who ruined everyone’s night because he couldn’t deal with a bunch of dumb fake decorations. He just needed to deal with it.

He didn’t realize he’d practically jumping into Randy’s arms screaming until several seconds after the fact, nor the fact that the thing that had lurched at him was _not_ , in fact, a sallow corpse, but was instead another co-worker, dressed a tattered evening gown that reminded him far too much of something that made his insides churn.

“Heya! Great costume!” Randy managed to shout over the rest of the noise, waving. “Easy, dude, almost knocked me over!” Despite his chastising, he still pulled the other man along to the drink table, where a lady in a witch costume was ladling glasses of something orange and sweet-smelling into glasses.

“Is- is it alcohol?” Zappa managed to ask.

“Just orange soda and grenadine, honey.” The lady flashed him a smile that actually felt a little reassuring. “Strongest thing in it’s bubbles.”

“Probably don’t want anyone getting drunk and smashing stuff in the castle.” Randy grabbed a couple of glasses and offered one. “Still, can’t complain about free drinks!”

Zappa felt something strange brush his ankle, and he jumped, thankfully managing to not fall on Randy again, though he did splash himself with his own drink.

“Woah, what was that about, dude?” The blonde pulled a few napkins off the long table and blotted the wet spot with them. “You okay?”

“S-something touched me- !”

Randy gave him a pitying look. “It’s the fog machine. Not gonna kill you.”

He was probably trying to be sympathetic, but Zappa just felt horribly embarrassed. Really? This was all it took to scare him now?

“Can- can we sit down?”

“Huh? Yeah, sure, if you want.”

It was difficult to try and calm himself down without being too obvious about it. Randy wasn’t always the most observant, but he definitely wasn’t stupid. There needed to be _some_ level of subtlety. Frankly, Zappa would have been happy just to not throw up on himself at this point, but he still tried to play off the constant moments of panic as something that, no really, he wasn’t scared, it was totally funny and he was totally fine.

At least sitting down helped him feel a little more secure. All the tables were already occupied by someone, so they had to sit with more co-workers, and eventually fell into conversation. Small talk he could manage. It was dry and unpleasant, but manageable. And whenever he felt his throat getting dry, he had a drink. Randy was much better at conversation, so he was able to keep the others amused (though he wasn’t exactly very subtle in the way he kept pocketing handfuls of candy from the bowl in the center).

Right! Right. He was fine. This- all of this was fine. No need to go overreacting. Even if there was something to be scared of, he was safe at the table. With Randy. He was safe.

Zappa immediately regretted all of that when he felt Randy grab his shoulder.

“Did you see that!?”

“See- see what?”

“Ah, damn it-” Randy stood up, trying to pull him along. “I saw something I think you’d really like! C’mon, let’s get a closer look!”

Closer meant leaving the table, where he knew he was safe, back into the crowd, which was not. Zappa tried to free himself from the other’s surprisingly strong grip.

“I-I’m fine, I just want to sit-” He tried to protest, but couldn’t speak over the various noises. 

He could feel his heart start to speed up again. No, it was fine! He was fine! Even if they were in a dark building, full of suspicious noises, surrounded by monsters- no, _people,_ people dressed like monsters, it wasn’t real, it wasn’t real-

As fast as his pulse was going, everything seemed to drag to a torturous slowness as Randy pulled him closer and closer into the throng of ominous figures. But- they were just people, just perfectly ordinary people in costumes, and the cold feeling was just the fog machine, right? That- that wasn’t a real axe, the grim reaper wasn’t going to cut him with it, and that man wasn’t going to really bite him with those fangs, and- _was that a rotting hand??_ No, it just had to be makeup, didn’t it? It was just- it was fake, it was fake, the noises and the jagged shadows on the wall and the people surrounding him, choking him, grinning terrible grins and brandishing their weapons and grabbing for him-

_Everywhere, everywhere, they were everywhere, pulling on him in every direction like they were trying to pull him limb from limb but he wouldn’t die, he never died, only stuck feeling them yank and scrape and burn and sting all up and down and why wouldn’t it stop why wouldn’t anybody help him?!_

_Something warm and wet slid down his neck. She was back, she had come back again and she was going to hurt him, she was going to be so furious and she was going to take it out on him._

_But he would never die. She wouldn’t allow it._

His bitten-down nails didn’t offer much offense, but he still managed to scream and swing his arms and scratch at anything he could get his hands on. He was too hysterical to care for much outside of that, stumbling over anything and everything if it meant getting away from the things trying to eat him alive on all sides. He wound up tripping and crashing, but scrabbled back to his feet and tore off towards the nearest exit his tunnel vision could manage to find him, regardless of what was in the way.

“Zappa?” Randy suddenly found his hands empty. “Zappa?”

He pushed and fumbled until he made it back out of the crowd, in the process finding a few faint scratches on his hand. Where had those come from? Well, it didn’t matter, he had more important stuff to worry about. Had his partner gotten lost in the crowd? Went for another drink? Had he been dragged off by someone unpleasant for some mysterious purpose?

Randy shook his head. Now he was getting ridiculous. The guy had probably just gone to the bathroom.

In the process of making his way back to the table, he found someone on the ground, trying to stand up with all the people around them.

“Zappa?”

Unfortunately, as soon as he helped them to their feet, he was able to see it was someone he didn’t know. Nonetheless, they still seemed grateful.

“Ahh, thank you. That guy ran right over me! Dunno what his problem was. Then nobody gave me any space, so I was just stuck there, just a real pain in the ass, all of it.”

Randy paused for a moment. “Who ran you over?”

They shrugged. “Couldn’t tell you. Just some guy. Was making a whole lot of racket, I think going towards the west exit? Dude was running like a bat outta hell, probably long gone already.”

In his path towards the west exit, Randy found a whole path of destruction in his wake. People knocked over, decorations toppled, even an entire table flipped on its side, forming sticky orange puddles on the wood.

“Jeez…” And no sight of Zappa anywhere. What were the odds he was just back at the punch bowl?

Randy let out a sigh and headed for the exit door.

++++++

There had been a sharp cutoff in noise as soon as he’d shut the door behind him. The west exit was one of the ones that dumped him into a hallway branching off towards other parts of the castle. Reminded Randy a bit of a subway station, but with less food stands and, y’know, trains. People too, it seemed, based on how quiet the place was. If Zappa was there, he must’ve been a good distance down already.

Well, he wasn’t accomplishing anything by standing around. “Zappa? You in here, man?”

Wandering through that place almost felt a little surreal. It was just so empty.

“Easy man, easy…”

His ears perked up. “Zappa?”

Randy tried to make out where the sound was coming from. He tried to turn a corner, only to almost crash into someone else

“Woah, woah, back up, man!” The blonde kid threw a hand up at him. “Back off!”

“What the hell…?” He took a step back on instinct. They looked familiar, but he couldn’t put a name to a face, and he lacked the patience to try. He tried to say something in response, but only sputtered uselessly.

“I mean it! Back off!”

“Okay, okay, okay.” To try and placate him, Randy took a few more steps back. “Not looking for trouble. I’m just looking for my friend.”

He didn’t seem entirely assured, but as long as Randy kept his distance, it must have been good enough. He turned away, kneeling down by something that Randy couldn’t see until he craned his neck. Another figure was huddled by the wall. Their face was hidden by a wide-brimmed hat, but based on the way they rocked back and forth, they clearly weren’t having the best night, either.

Randy half-raised his hand, trying to figure out how to respond. “Is he sick?”

The boy shook his head. “Overstimulated. Lots of people making lots of noise. So we came out here for some quiet.”

“I getcha, I getcha. Did you see a guy covered in shag carpet run by?”

“Shag carpet?” He went quiet for a moment. “Didn’t make out much, but some guy came by a few minutes ago. Real worked up, screaming and crying and all that. Couldn’t slow him down before he ran off again.”

“You wouldn’t happen to know where he went…?”

“Same direction you were going. I was thinking about seeing where he ended up, but I didn’t want to leave Mattie.”

The man nodded. “Thanks, you’re a lifesaver!”

So back it was, to the empty stretches of hallways filled with nothing. Thankfully, the section was linear, with nowhere else to go until he hit another door, which dumped him into a stairwell. It seemed equally good at muffling noise as the last one, and he didn’t overhear the sobbing until he’d already walked in. 

“Zappa!”

It _was_ him that time, thank god. He must have decided the stairs were the perfect place to have a good breakdown, or at least an abrupt one, based on the juice-stained costume he was still wearing.

Randy approached quietly, unsure of what to do when the man was sobbing like he was. What had happened?

“You okay?” He asked, forcing himself to put a hand on his shoulder.

Zappa reeled back with a scream, offering Randy a look at his face. Red cheeks and wet eyes aside, he looked fine, not injured or anything. So what was it?

It wasn’t something he could ask, as Zappa was already back to sobbing in a little ball at the bottom of the stairs. Randy didn’t really know what to say, or what to do, so he said the first things that came to mind.

“Why’d you vanish?”

Through his hiccuping sobs, the other man managed to look up at him, and his expression was far from pleased.

_“What?!”_

That only confused him more. “You vanished out of nowhere. What happened? Did someone give you trouble?” No response. “Zappa, why are you crying? Can you tell me what’s wrong?”

Wiping his wet face on his arms, Zappa scowled up at him again. “HOW CAN YOU ASK ME THAT??”

Randy was horribly lost, and it was starting to frustrate him. “What the hell are you talking about?! I was _worried_ about you, you dumbass! I was trying to find you because I was worried you’d been kidnapped! And then I find you bawling on the stairs, I have no idea what’s happening, alright?! So can you please just tell me what the hell happened?”

Being shouted at made the other man immediately crumble, stuttering and gasping so hard he was barely coherent.

“Y-you- you, I was- it was- l-loud, and the voices, and-and the _talking_ , they were gon- they were gonna _kill_ me, and I’m- and- and I’m- I’m afraid of ghosts, Randy!”

“I know, dude! You told me!” Randy snapped. “You told...me…”

He collapsed, sinking down onto the bottom step and covering his face with his hands. “I...Jesus, I’m a huge douchebag, aren’t I.”

Zappa was still a frazzled mess on the stairs, but rather than annoy him, it only made Randy feel more embarrassed. “You’ve been scared out of your mind all night, and I’ve just been worried about partying. I bet you didn’t even want to come, did you?”

“I didn’t- I didn’t want to ruin your fun.”

“Guhh, Zappa-” After a moment’s hesitation, Randy pulled his partner into a side-armed hug. “Gotta care about yourself first. God, and I’m the jackass who couldn’t take a hint and realize this’d all make you uncomfortable, after you told me all that stuff about the ghosts.”

“It’s not that big a deal, it’s not-”

The side-armed hug turned into a full one. “It’s a big deal to me. I’m...I’m so sorry, man. I’ve been a real dick.”

Zappa didn’t say anything, but Randy felt him melt into his grip, which was enough of a response for him.

The door creaked open. “Oh, I guess you found your friend?”

It was that kid from earlier, and his own little friend. “Shit, sorry, are we in the way?”

“Not really.” The blonde shrugged. “We were just heading back up to wind down, maybe watch that ‘magic pumpkin’ movie thing the old man was talking about. You just happened to be here.” He perked up. “Hey, Mattie, can we invite them?”

“As long as they’re quiet, I don’t really care.”

“Hell yeah! So are you in? I ate all our candy though, so if you want any you’ll need to bring your own.”

Zappa managed to nudge Randy weakly in the ribs. “I suppose you have that base covered for us, already?”

Randy was utterly flummoxed. “How did you know? I was so sneaky!”

That finally got Zappa to laugh. “Whatever you say, Randy.”


End file.
